by Lexie Ray
Before she could reach his belt buckle, his hand wrapped around her wrist and pulled her back.
“You touch that, and I’ll break the rules,” he mumbled with a sheepish laugh.
For a moment, Rebecca’s mind remained silent, each potential thought completely decimated with that idea. That touching her, pleasuring her, had brought him so close to the edge that he would come undone with single touch. If she had held off a little longer, praised him a little more, could she have made him cum with his poor cock still completely neglected?
The look in his eyes when he glanced at her made her think that she could have. Doubt and embarrassment died within her, hidden in a landslide of pride. She felt like Venus personified as she pulled him into a nipping, sucking kiss, eager to toy with him until he lost it.
Neither of them heard the first sharp knock. It was something that existed beyond the warm, slick sensation of each other’s touches as was so ignored. The second one broke through the haze and cracked into both of their skulls. They blinked at each other, unable to understand what they were hearing.
“Rebecca? Are you in there? It’s Willow Miller.”
Daren closed his eyes and swallowed down whatever it was he wanted to say. By the look of it, it was a lot of curse words.
“I’m Mads’ friend. You met me at the flower shop.”
Rebecca turned from the door back to Daren to find him banging the back of his head against the wall.
“Mads wanted me to talk to you. Are you in there?”
“Yeah,” Rebecca said with regret. “I’m just getting changed. Can I meet you at the coffee stand?”
“Sure, okay.” Awkwardness was evident in the woman’s words as she moved away from the trailer.
After a few minutes of silence, Rebecca dared to meet Daren’s gaze. “Why the hell would Willow want to talk to me?”
Daren wouldn’t look at her as he shrugged. Whatever he thought this was about, he wasn’t going to share. “I guess I should go,” Daren muttered as he slipped out from between her and the wall.
He glanced back to her as he opened the door. It was obvious that he wanted to say something, anything, but couldn’t get the words out. In the end, he just awkwardly nodded and left.
Chapter Thirteen
Daren slammed the door of their rented trailer hard enough to make the walls rattle. He prayed that the place was empty and was ready to physically remove anyone to make it happen. With a twist of luck, the place was deserted, and he threw on the flimsy lock. He pulled his shirt down over the front of his jeans and hoped for the best. All he had wanted as he had pushed his way through the crowd, was to get to somewhere private and take care of the ache in his crotch. Or at least get into a change of clothes.
He rushed to the small bathroom, stripping off as he went. The shower was a tiny space with the lone bathroom door doubling as the door to the shower stall. There was barely enough room for his shoulders, and the showerhead itself only went high enough to slash against his chest.
The water sputtered and rushed over him in an uneven flow as he rested back against the wall. Rebecca’s groans still echoed within his ears. Each breath smelled like her. His hand still twitched and pulsed with the memory of her slick warmth. He wrapped his hand tightly around himself, his brain stuttering out when he felt the traces of Rebecca’s slick heat that still lingered on his fingers.
He was too far gone for this to take any true amount of time, but he was used to that. It was his general habit to ignore it until it was impossible to. Then it was just hand on dick and pump until it was done. Efficient and fast. It had been the same process on one of the few occasions a woman had agreed to be with him. His brother was the one who could date someone steadily. For Daren, it hadn’t even been one-night stands. Just dirty and fast in the parking lot of the local bar with women who would be getting the hell out town before dawn.
His hand moved furiously over his hard skin, letting the water and his pre-cum ease the slide. He tried to conjure up some images of those women, to push Rebecca from the forefront of his mind, but none of them could compete. With a growl, he let himself go and smacked his head against the wall.
Was it okay for him to think of Rebecca? Maybe it wouldn’t cross any line. Well, no more than he already had, if he could keep his thoughts to what had just happened. But as pleasure pulsed up his cock, all he could think about was how she had ridden his fingers. It made the image change to her riding his cock like that. Head thrown back, dark hair flowing, mouthing praises as she bore down on him with desperate need.
“Shit.”
His fingers wrapped around his pulsing cock once again. He couldn’t keep the image out. Couldn’t stop thinking of how that moist, tight heat would feel in place of his hand. The fantasy was so clear in his mind, and he had been on the edge for so long, that it only took a few firm strokes to tip him over the edge.
Daren bit down on his hand to keep his screams to a dull groan and continued to work out every last drop. Rebecca still lingered as he came down from his high, the fantasy changing to situations that were as alien to him as what had just happened. Lying in bed together, soft kisses shared between evening breaths, a smile on her face as she pulled close to his side.
If my brother could hear any of this, he would never stop laughing.
The thought shattered the fantasy until all that remained were some of Daren’s family’s favorite catchphrases from his childhood. No one would be desperate enough to want you. She had an itch; you scratched it. That’s it. And a general running theme of how worthless and physically inadequate he was.
“We were a creepy family,” he muttered to himself.
It had been years since he had gotten out and realized the depth of sheer weirdness that his family had operated under. But sometimes, it still hit him. There really hadn’t been any boundaries or privacy, and he knew a lot more about each of their sexual practices than would be considered healthy. A lot more than he had ever wanted to know.
The water took on an icy chill as it hit his overheated skin. The shiver it provoked brought Daren back to the here and now. Even if it was an itch, he had been allowed to touch Rebecca Jones. That realization hit him, and he smiled as he shut off the shower. He’d deal with all the emotional debris later. Right now, he felt pretty damn good.
***
Both women seemed uncomfortable as they sat at the small table outside of the trailer. Rebecca didn’t want coffee, but once she had met Willow at the stall, she’d felt obligated to buy it. No knowing what else to do, she had invited the woman back to the trailer and hoped that it didn’t looked too suspicious.
Rebecca had made sure to keep her back to the spot of the wall where she had pinned Daren less than an hour ago. If she had to look at it, she wasn’t sure if she could keep her composure. If Willow noticed anything, she didn’t allude to it, and instead seemed to grapple to come up with a way to start the conversation. In the lingering silence, Rebecca swore she could still hear Daren’s incredible moans and feel his fingers within her.
“So,” Rebecca said, desperate for a distraction as her skin began to heat, “what did Mads want you to talk to me about?”
“He didn’t say,” Willow said sheepishly. “Just mentioned that you might need another woman to talk to.”
“Does he get you to do that often?”
“No, this is a first.”
“Can I ask why you agreed?”
Willow shrugged as she kept both hands on her paper cup. “What if I had said no, and you had really needed help?”
Rebecca nodded and stared down at the steam rising from her black coffee.
“Have you known them long?” Rebecca asked.
“A few years.”
“Can I ask you a personal question?”
“Sure.”
“What’s their story?”
Willow tilted her head. “Can you be more specific?”
“Well, um,” she tried to sound casual. “Relationship-wise.”
“I’m still confused. Did something happen?”
“No,” she was quick to say. “I just wanted to know a little bit more about them. And I think how men treat the people they’re in a relationship with says a lot about them.”
It wasn’t a lie. Even as a part of her just longed to know more about Daren, she really did need a bit more information to feel stable. She wasn’t about to pass up the opportunity when presented.
“Well,” Willow said, “the weird thing is that Dwayne isn’t really the ladies’ man of the group. He’s just a flirt. Seriously. I’ve seen him flirt with some of my plants when no one else was around. But he never really goes beyond that. The one who seems to have the most dates is actually Jai. Which makes sense. He can start with the ‘hey, I’m a soldier line’ and follow it up with being a doctor.”
“What about Jamie?”
“I’m still trying to figure him out,” she said. “Nearest I can tell, something big happened in his past, and he’s still not over it yet. I don’t think he’s been on a date the entire time I’ve known him.”
Rebecca took a sip of her coffee before she asked, “What about Mads?”
Willow burst into laughter. “Mads?”
“Why not?”
“I’m not saying that he can’t get into a relationship. I’m just saying that it would be really weird,” Willow said. “He’s so amazingly repressed and proper. Could you imagine having sex with him? He’d probably put down a towel, no one’s hair would ever fall out of place, and in the end, you’d receive a handwritten thank you letter in gratitude for your efforts.”
Rebecca looked at the woman from over the rim of her cup. “Or all that repression has shifted into some pretty crazy kinks.”
She took a sip as she watched Willow contemplate that. “Okay, now I’m getting all these images in my head that I do not want and will probably never get rid of.”
“What about Daren?”
“What about him?”
Rebecca raised her eyebrows. “The same question I’ve asked about everyone else.”
“Oh, well, Daren…” Willow trailed off as she tried to decide what to say next. “He’s a hard read.”
“What do you mean?”
“Well, when I first met him, I thought he was one of those people whose bark was worse than their bite.”
“But that changed?”
“I’m not going to give details, but there was an incident once. One of their clients came running into my store with their stalker a step behind. Daren was the first one of the group to come along and, well, his bite is definitely worse.”
“He seems too quiet,” Rebecca noted.
“If I had to guess – and again, this is only a guess – I think Daren spent a pretty long time in a bad situation, one that taught him to suppress a lot in order to survive. That’s not an easy habit to shake.” She took a mouthful of coffee and added, “Daren might look like still waters, but I’m pretty sure that there’s a passionate riptide in that boy.”
Rebecca tried to swallow down the bitter coffee, her ears once again ringing with Daren’s moans, and an unsettling certainty that she wanted to see just how deep those waters were.
Chapter Fourteen
The afterglow began to wane, and each muscle in his back ached. Daren clenched his teeth against the pain and continued to work on the fencing. They had barely been open a day and already the general public had twisted and popped the strips of meshed metal out of the fastenings. He didn’t want to know what state they were going to leave this place in when all was said and done. Jamie gave him a head’s up over the coms, preparing him for Sophie to creep up behind him. She was rather disappointed when her attempt to scare him fell flat.
“What are you doing?” Daren asked.
Sophie sat down next to him and began to idly look over the scattered tools. “Are you almost done?”
“What do you care?” he said as he tightened up another bolt.
“You missed the rodeo.”
The rusted bolt fought every twist. “Ya momma didn’t want me doing it today.”
“What do you care?” Sophie said.
He turned to her and tried to keep the spark of worry from his face. Was that a trick question? Did she know something she shouldn’t? His mind went over every second that he had spent with Rebecca, but for the life of him he couldn’t remember if the door had ever opened. Actually, he couldn’t remember a single thing that didn’t directly involve her – her smell, her taste, her voice, her warmth. Daren quickly shifted his attention back to the fence and forcibly moved his thoughts to safer territory.
“I’m busy, Sophie.”
“You said that you’d teach me to fight,” Sophie said.
Daren glanced over to her again. “You wanna do that now?”
“Yeah.”
It didn’t matter how good the kid was at hiding her emotions, fear was still a little shimmer in her eyes. But after a close call like that, she must be feeling an ache in her ego, and her stomach would be twisted up in knots. He nodded.
“Can you follow instructions?”
She sat up straighter. “Yeah.”
“And you promise only to do what I tell you?”
“Uh huh.”
“Okay, fine.”
A huge smile crossed her face as she sprang to her feet. “Thanks, Daren.”
“Yeah, you say that now.”
She hesitated for a moment. “Do you think it will really help?”
“What do you mean?”
Sophie shrugged one slender shoulder, her eyes cast to the ground, and she rubbed the toe of her sneaker into the grass.
“He’s a lot stronger than me.”
“It don’t matter how big they are if they’re dumb,” Daren said. “We’re going to teach you how to fight smart.”
She smiled up at him, her normal restless energy making her bounce on the spot again. He used his com to let the others know what was going on. After he got back a few ‘rogers’ and a couple of smartass comments from Dwayne, Daren packed up the tools and looked around. The fence he had been fixing was used to segregate the carnival workers’ homes from the public area. There was a decent amount of grass left untouched that would serve well enough.
Daren doubted that Sophie owned any item of clothing that would make running and moving difficult. She bounced on the balls of her feet, eager to get down to work and regain some kind of control. Returning her smile, he pushed the tools against the fence and cleaned his hands off on his jeans.
“So, let’s get running.”
“Running?” she stilled.
“It’s called a warm up, kiddo,” he said as he took off, following the line of the fence.
Behind him, he heard Sophie grumble, but she followed.
***
“It looks like they’re getting along,” Willow said as she looked out the window.
Rebecca twisted in her seat to catch sight of Sophie smacking her fists into Daren’s open palms. Every so often, he would say a few words to her, correct her boxer’s stance, and adjust her arms to better protect her head. Sophie listened to every word with more focus than Rebecca had ever seen her harness. Their conversations were short. Then Daren would crouch down again, hands held up high, and let Sophie pummel them once more.
“Is he teaching her to fight?”
“Looks like it,” Willow said as she finished off her coffee. “She’s got a pretty good left hook.”
“She gets it from her mother,” Rebecca smirked. It was easy to hold her smile as she watched Daren and Sophie. It had been a while since Sophie had looked that happy, and it made warmth flood through her to know that Daren was the one to bring it out. She had been so worried that yesterday would hang over her, especially after last night. Nightmares were hard to hide when you both slept in a trailer.
“It’s funny,” Rebecca said softly. “When she was born, I was so certain that I could keep her safe. That I could do whatever I had to. But lately…”
“You’re doing everything you can.”
“But what if it’s not enough?”
“Then the boys are here to back you up.” Willow offered a small smile.
Sophie giggled wildly as she tried to shove Daren over. He sprang up easily, like she might actually be a threat. It made Sophie laugh louder. It wasn’t as surprising as it should have been that Daren was the one to make Sophie smile. Against all appearances, Daren held a stoic calm that was impossible not to be affected by. Just having him around was enough to make you feel that that you were capable of anything. At first, Rebecca had thought it was just her that reacted to him like that. But watching him now, she knew that it was just a skill he effortlessly wielded.
“If you need a little bit more peace of mind, I’m sure he would be willing to give you a few lessons as well,” Willow said.
Rebecca watched a rare smile break across Daren’s face and the way the heat of the day warmed his bare arms. Fighting wasn’t really the thing she wanted to do if she got Daren alone.
“It might be worth asking,” Rebecca said.
Her perfect view was interrupted by Jamie, still in his skeleton outfit, wandering over to watch Sophie train. It seemed like the two men had a few disagreements on how best to instruct Sophie, and neither were shy about voicing it. While it was difficult to tell from this distance, Rebecca was sure that Sophie was egging them on.
A smile spread across her face, timid at first and then growing to meet her eyes. Sophie laughed as she continued to pummel Daren’s hands, much to Jamie’s encouragement. Perhaps it was only a momentary distraction, but right now Sophie looked just like any other girl. Rebecca tried to hide the tears that welled in her eyes at the sight, at the sudden release of the tension that had coiled in her stomach, but her fingers still trembled as she placed them over her mouth.
“You know,” Willow said, “it looks like you have a few babysitters. Maybe you should take advantage of the opportunity. Catch your breath?”
“I’ve wanted to take a nap since I got pregnant,” Rebecca chuckled.